Tells the story of a poor Jew and a wealthy Gentile who exchange places for year, exploring the prejudice and fear that they encountered while in their "new" identities.
| ||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
The publication of a novel never before translated into English by the major Yiddish writer Aleichem (Sholem Rabinowitz, 1859-1916) is, in itself, a literary event. That the novel is as good as The Bloody Hoax adds to the felicity of the occasion. Set primarily in "a large glorious city where a Jew needs a residence permit," in the czarist Russia of 1912-1913, when the book was written, Hoax features schoolfriends trading identities so that the well-born gentile Grisha can understand the sufferings of his Jewish friend Herske. The story begins lightly enough, with Grisha wooing the daughter of his Jewish landlord, trying to explain why he doesn't speak Yiddish or know anything of Jewish ritual, but gradually darkens as Grisha becomes suspected of a "ritual murder," a development based on the Beiliss case (which also inspired Bernard Malamud's The Fixer ). While many of the characters are slender hooks on which a complex plot and astute social observations are hung, Aleichem draws their portraits well, utilizing such stock figures as the nosy mother, the obnoxious and rich in-laws and the befuddled suitor to great effect. At the same time, the urban setting allows him to explore the world of ideas--the budding Zionist movement, the role of Jewish intellectuals--in far more depth than in his tales of shtetl life. Shevrin's translation is sprightly and clever, and professor Maurice Friedberg contributes a useful introduction.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Another superb Aleichem work to be translated into English (like Tevye the Dairyman and the Railroad Stories, LJ 7/87), this political and dramatic novel is a departure from the author's familiar tales of shtetel, or Jewish village life, in late 19th-and early 20th-century Russia. The plot is modeled on the 1911 Beiliss blood libel case in Kiev, in which a Jew was tried for murdering a Gentile boy in order to obtain Christian blood to bake matzos for Passover. Two high school friends, a Jew, Hersh Rabinovitch, and a Russian, Grigori Popov, decide after graduation to trade places for a year so that Grigori can learn first hand what it is like to be a Jew in Tsarist Russia, and Hersh can enter university unimpeded by quotas. When Grigori, now Hersh, is accused of the blood libel, the plot becomes three dimensional--a Christian posing as a Jew is now subject to the prejudice and groundless fears his own family helped perpetrate. The dramatic portrayal of political and social issues is reminiscent of the writing of Turgenyev, or Balzac, while at the same time it is highly relevant to the current plight of Soviet Jewry. Highly recommended for all libraries.
- Molly Abramowitz, Silver Spring, Md.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Molly Abramowitz, Silver Spring, Md.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Skilful evocation of how it is to be target of a blood libel,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Bloody Hoax (Jewish Literature and Culture) (Hardcover)
This novel, not the most subtle piece of writing in literature, nevertheless deserves a read because it is effective in putting the reader in the place of someone accused of an absurd, but bestial, crime. Reveals the psychosis of antisemitism very well - the impossibility of defending oneself through appeals to reason. Entertaining and gripping, too.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
